The Caudron Type L was a two-seat French pusher configuration amphibious

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, flown around 1913 and intended for naval use.

Design

With unequal span, two bay, unstaggered wings and an open frame

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

the Type L had much in common with the smaller Caudron-Fabre pusher amphibian, as well as with the

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

Type J amphibians and Type H floatplanes, some of which were also amphibians. Most of the earlier Caudron biplane types had similar wings and fuselages. The Type L had three sets of parallel and vertical

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s on each side, the innermost close to the central

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

and bracing the centre section. The overhanging upper wing were braced by a pair of parallel, outward leaning struts which joined the lower wing at the base of the outer vertical struts. The inner struts, to which the engine was attached, were

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

and the remainder hollowed out

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

; all joined the rather close pairs of

spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

s in the upper and lower wings. Diagonal

flying wire In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s completed the bracing. The interplane gap was . Lateral (

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

) control was by

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...

. The Type L did not have a long, enclosed fuselage but instead the

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third e ...

was supported on an open girder. The Type L, unusually for Caudron, had two parallel sided, cross braced side frames. The longitudinal members were steel and the cross-members ash. The side frames began from the rear spars of both upper and lower wings and converged rearwards to meet at the tail, with upper and lower cross-members towards the rear. A short nacelle on the lower wing contained an open, wide

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

with

side-by-side seating Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

, the pilot on the right. Controls were conventional. The nacelle ended behind the forward wing spar, ahead of the

Gnome Delta The Gnome 9 Delta was a French designed, nine-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain. Powering several World War I era aircraft types it produced from its capacity of . Variants ;Delta:The baseline ...

nine cylinder

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...

mounted on the rear interplane struts and driving a two blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

via 2:1 reduction gearing and a long shaft to clear the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

. At the extreme tail, the final vertical frame member served as the axis for the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

, with a small, roughly triangular

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

ahead of it. The

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

hinge was also mounted high on this member, with a straight edged

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

ahead of it. The Type L had short floats, flat bottomed with no

chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...

but in plan and profile curving inwards to the nose. Unlike the Fabre floats of the Caudron-Fabre, these had a step about halfway back. A landing wheel was located on the float centreline, working on an unsprung axle in a slot through to the upper side. The floats were mounted on outer N-form struts to the bases of the inner interplane struts and by W-form struts to the lower longitudinal girder member, pivoted at the front with rubber

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...

s at the rear. Another rectangular cross-section but unstepped float was positioned under the tail. The first prototype, intended for delivery to the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

, appeared at the 1913 Paris Salon in December but it is not known if it had been flown by then. It was destroyed by fire after an engine backfire during tests. The second was trialled by the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

, who found it unsatisfactory, it was then delivered to the British as a replacement for the lost first prototype. The last two were rebuilt as Type J marines and used by the French Navy.

Specifications

References

{{Caudron aircraft Amphibious aircraft 1910s French military aircraft TL Biplanes Rotary-engined aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1913